There's also Shakira at the Staples Center going which is worth mentioning. The big toughie for me is Interpol or Air though. I was lucky enough to snag a pair of GA tickets to Air, which is a small standing pit in front of the orchestra. I bought them during the presale, in the middle of a dentist appointment, with no wi-fi. Yep, I convinced the staff to steal an ethernet cable for me and stall until I got my tickets. Get your tickets from Ticketmaster here. A couple other pluses for Air is ...

I've raved about my awesome experience volunteering for KCRW at our sister world Luv and Music and the time has come around again. Here's your chance to help support one of the best public radio stations ever, right here in Santa Monica. I'll be there Tuesday 8/10 (08:00am - Noon) and even convinced a few friends to join in. See you there volunteers!

The Greek is a very cool venue, if you have pit tickets. I usually don't like sitting for shows but this one might be cool since their latest album Congratulations is a lot less dancy than their debut album Oracular Sepectacular.

Heads up, dance party in San Bernardino a couple weekends from now. Kid Cudi, Bassnectar, Talib Kewli, Daedelus, and Nosaj Thing are just a few of the DJs/artists on the main stage. Check out this link for the full lineup.

I guess this leaked a couple days early. *edit* Looks like they just deleted the news post off the website, but I managed to save a copy (see below). Wow, such a solid lineup. You do not want to miss this! If I was only able to go to one San Francisco festival this summer and had to choose between this and Outside Lands, Treasure Island would be the easy winner. Even though The Strokes are one of my favorite bands and are headlining OL, I would choose Treasure Island because this line up is j...

Pick of the Week: Au Revoir Simone / Alexa Wilding / George Sarah @ Echoplex ($14) I'll be at this show and can't wait to check out this all girl band from Brooklyn, NY. I've been following them for a while and really dig their electronic dream pop music.

Hot Hot Heat / Voxhaul Broadcast / The Union Line @ Bootleg ($12) Hot Hot Heat continues it's Wednesday residency at the Bootleg Theater and the shows are so good. I went last week and had a great time dancing to songs like this one! And yes, they played Bandages for the encore! (Free parking in the lot across the street, look out for the sign in front)

Check out their video: Half Full Glass Of Wine I saw Tame Impala at the Echo last night and was blown away. These psychedelic rockers kinda sound like a modern day Beatles. They are blowing up! Bummed I can't see them again tonight.

Matador, the label behind our favorite indie bands is turning 21 this year. To celebrate they're having this awesome festival in Vegas! Guided By Voices will be reuniting to play the Matador at 21 Festival along with Belle & Sebastian, Cat Power, Cold Cave, The New Pornographers, Sonic Youth, Spoon, Yo La Tengo and many more. Matador at 21 will be taking place at The Palms in Las Vegas from Friday, October 1 - Sunday, October 3 in collaboration with Los Angeles promoters FYF Fest. No on-sale ...

My friend from Brooklyn and I went to this free show on Monday. The vocals were crisp and less distorted than on the album. Overall great energy and the crowd was totally feeling it. The crowd was made of the typical mix of big messy hair, plaid, and skinny jean wearing indie kids, along with a few random old guys. My friend said NYC shows are a lot more homogenous and was surprised by how diverse shows in LA are. I was surprised by how many tall guys (lots of guys well over 6'2) were in the ...

Instead of taking the standard approach of writing a show review about how amazing or horrible a band played, I thought I'd turn around and review the crowd for each show that I go to. I'm interested in the types of people and demographics each artist/band attracts. In the end, crowd response is pretty clutch.